3 WOMEN. To 27 March.

London

3 WOMEN
by Catherine Anne translated by Solvene Tiffou

Riverside Studios (Studio 3) To 27 March 2004
Mon-Sat 8pm
Runs 1hr 35min No interval

TICKETS: 020 8237 1111
www.riversidestudios.co.uk
Review: Timothy Ramsden 10 March

Fine acting in a small space, with a slow-burning drama of psychological intrigue.Coup de Theatre exists to bring French drama to the British audience'. This piece by 1960-born Catherine Anne is very French, being a single situation teased out for psychological and philosophical implications: Simenon without much crime. There's a touch of Pirandello too, questioning what's real, unreal and deliberately taken for real.

Grumpy, rich old Mrs Chevalier Ann Firbank's voice showing finicky distaste and command treats new home-help Joelle with the usual contempt. Then Joelle's daughter, and namesake, arrives, defiant and set against the wealthy, who deserve what they get as the poor deserve what they can take.

Camilla Rutherford's youthful swish and confident facial expression her simply-defined world's nothing like the shaded complexity Mrs Chevalier's come to dislike goes with over-reliance on a deliberately flat vocal tone.

But the old lady seems to take young Joelle for her grand-daughter Amelie, whom she treats with unique fondness. To her mother's horror, young Joelle plays along, starting by changing her initial nan' for the grandma' Mrs Chevalier prefers. Sympathy awakens between young and old seen in their looks at each other across the void between the richly furnished Chevalier residence and the simple décor chez Joelles, where the only elaboration is a light-fitting bought with money the rich woman gives the young.

Initially using her mother's job as a means of meeting someone who can help her find work, young Joelle slowly transforms so, when Mrs Chevalier deluded or aware, it scarcely matters by this stage offers to leave her property to the girl, the bond is strong enough to make her seem as good an heiress as the real Amelie, unseen so entirely unreal to us.

Between them is Marcia Warren, excellent as the working-woman who's learned to get through the day by smiling the more desperate the situation the wider the mouth, the more dancing the voice just occasionally dropping into the occupational hazard of addressing older people like children.

Attempting to keep discovery at bay, Warren introduces near-farcical moments. With several brief bursts of energising music kick-starting the pace, these help where unwinding of the situation's intrigue limits dramatic momentum.

Mrs Chevalier: Ann Firbank
Joelle, Mother: Marcia Warren
Joelle, daughter: Camilla Rutherford

Director: Marianne Badrichani
Designer: Julie Marabelle
Lighting: Ben Pacey
Sound: Adrienne Quartle
Costume: Zoe Radford

2004-03-12 07:57:06